Til You Drop
by mosylu
Summary: Barry's pretty terrible at Christmas shopping, but Iris still drags him along. She just enjoys it more when he's with her. Pre-series Westallen Christmas fluff.


For the 2016 Westallen Secret Santa on Tumblr. A present for WestAllenHugs from mosylufanfic, for the prompts "A Christmas-themed flashback set before we meet them in the pilot" and "Iris and Barry go Christmas shopping together."

* * *

Iris spotted Barry on a bench next to the perfume counter, squinting at his phone. "There you are!" she yelped, plopping next to him. "Where have you been?"

"I lost you," he said piteously.

She poked him in the ribs, and he squeaked. "You mean you couldn't keep up with me, with those ridiculous long legs?"

"Usain Bolt couldn't keep up with you when you're Christmas shopping!"

She snorted. "Usain Bolt would at least try. Okay." She unloaded her overflowing basket. "So, here's what I got. Scarf for Grandma Esther, necklace for my advisor, these cute earrings for Jada, and this lotion set for Mya. What do you think?"

He looked a little dazed, and shrugged. "They're nice. Grandma Esther will like the, um - " He poked at the soft scarf. "The sparkly parts."

Iris nodded, vindicated. Grandma Esther would _love_ the sparkly parts. She'd taught Iris the way of bling at a very young age.

"And the rest of it's good," he concluded. "Although who's Mya again?"

"My Secret Santa at Jitters. Now, I really need your opinion on this." She dug around until she found the two items she'd been waffling between. "For Dad. Wallet or belt?"

He considered them both. "Wallet's a great gift. Every guy loves a wallet - "

"Great!" She started to put the wallet back in the basket.

"- which is why I got him one last year."

She dropped her hands. "Oh. I forgot that."

"Yeah, and you know Joe. He'd feel equally bad about putting mine away or not using yours."

"Belt, then," she said. "Definitely. See? This is why I made you come."

"Really? It wasn't to carry your bags?"

She swatted him. "That too. All right. I'll go put this back and then I'm ready to check out. Did you get everything you wanted?"

He waved his phone, looking smug. "Yep! Right here. While I waited."

"Amazon gift cards for everyone?" she guessed.

His eyes slid away. "Not … everyone … "

Just most people, then. He was very good at presents for her and her dad, but atrocious at presents for anyone else. It was kind of cute, if you were on the good side of that divide.

She shook her head. "I'll be right back."

When she returned, he'd sorted her basket into a more efficient arrangement, so it no longer overflowed. _Nerd,_ she thought fondly.

He picked it up before she could grab it and stood up. "So, you're missing somebody,"

"What, you mean Duane? We've barely been together a month and honestly, I think I'm going to break up with him." She looked with horror at her basket. "Oh god. Should I get him a present? Should I stay with him until after Christmas?" Yuck. _No._ She was so done. He never texted her back, but when he texted first, he acted like she was the worst girlfriend in the world if she didn't text him back within five minutes.

"What?" Barry said. "No! I mean, yes, dump him, he's a jerk. But I mean me! Where's my present, huh?"

"Oh. Ohhhh." She waggled her finger at him as they got in the checkout line "Nice try, mister. I already got your present and you're not going to know what it is until Christmas morning."

He shrugged. "Can't blame me for trying."

Barry's gift had taken the biggest chunk of her Christmas money, but Harrison Wells' autobiography wasn't out in paperback yet. It was really the only possibility for his present, after listening to him wax rhapsodic about Star Labs, newly opened last month. The particle accelerator wasn't scheduled to go online for nearly a year, but Iris felt like she could already write a full paper on it, even if she didn't understand most of the words.

She wanted to get Harrison Wells to sign it, but phone calls hadn't worked and she didn't know anybody who worked at Star Labs. Or at least, she was pretty sure she didn't. Maybe she should keep an eye out for nerdy-looking engineer types, coming into Jitters as new regulars, and charm one into taking it into work.

It was a tenuous plan at best, and Iris knew Barry would be plenty happy with a non-autographed copy. He was something like number 174 on the hold list at the library. But she could just picture the look on his face if he flipped it open to the cover page and saw his name in Harrison Wells' scrawl.

She peered up at him. God, it had been years since his first growth spurt and it still startled her sometimes, how tall he was. He glanced down at her and smiled, his special Barry smile just for her. She beamed back.

(Whenever she was late texting back, Duane accused her of being with Barry. Which was so - _ugh._ So what if it was true a lot of the time? It was the principle of the thing. Jerk. She was _so_ breaking up with him.)

"Thanks for coming with," she said, tucking her arm into Barry's free one as they walked out of the store, loaded down with bags. She swore she could hear her credit card whimpering in her purse. "This was fun."

"Oh, I'm just in it for the free lunch. You are springing for lunch, right?"

"Sure," she said airily. "How do you feel about the dollar menu?"

"It's about what I can afford after Christmas shopping, so I feel fine."

She laughed and leaned into him. No matter what it was, everything just felt more like Christmas when she did it with him.

FINIS


End file.
